In game one of the OUA Western Conference Finals, the visiting York Lions came away with a 5-3 win over the Windsor Lancers Wednesday night at South Windsor Arena.
 
The win gives the Lions a 1-0 series lead heading into game two of the best of three series set for Friday night in Toronto.
 
In front of a capacity crowd, the game got off to a fast start with both teams excited to get things going. Early in the first Windsor's Kyle Hope went wide outside and crashed the net hard and it looked like he put the Lancers up early. Unfortunately, after a referee meeting the goal was waved off as they determined that it did not fully cross the goal line.
 
The period remained scoreless until just under minute left in the frame when Justice Dundas knocked in a pass from Steve Anthony to put the Blue & Gold up by one heading into intermission.
 
York wasted no time in the second period as leading scorer Derek Sheppard grabbed a puck in the high slot and wristed a shot into the top corner past Windsor goaltender Blake Richard, knotting the game up at one.
 
The Lancers re-took the lead halfway through the period on a goal by captain Blake Blondeel.  The goal was assisted by Dylan Seguin who fought off the Lions defender to get the puck to Blondeel right before he fired it through the pads of Mack Shields.
 
Windsor's was very short lived as Tyler Mort struck on a powerplay two minutes after the Lancer goal. The Lions didn't stop pressing and a minute later Greg Milner found the back on the net on a point shot that found its way past Richard. Mort was credited with the assist to hear his second point in a two minute time span.
 
Up 3-2 heading into the third period, York doubled their lead in the third period at 12:36 when Scott Feser wired one past Richard.
 
Looking to add some pressure and get back on the board, Lancer head coach Kevin Hamlin pulled Richard in favour of the extra man. With the net empty, the Lancers went to work to make a comeback and were rewarded as Konnor Haas cut in front of the net and backhanded one home to cut the Lion lead in half.
 
Unfortunately for the Blue & Gold that would be all she wrote, as the Lions secured the victory with an empty net goal from Trevor Peterson 0:37 seconds later.
 
Richard finished the game with 25 saves for Windsor, while Mack Shields was equally as busy turning aside 26 saves in the win.
 
Windsor now travels to Toronto to take on York for games two and three (if necessary). Game two is schedule for Friday March 3rd, while game three will be played on Saturday March 4th at the Canlon Ice Centre. Puck drop is for 7:00pm both days and can be seen live on www.oua.tv.